Night Owl Cards

  I made it to the monthly show across town today. It was the first time I was able to get there since January, having missed the last two because of poorly-timed weather.   This is good because the big Syracuse show is in a week and I'm probably not going to be there due to the lack of a vehicle.     The monthly show is definitely not the Syracuse show. I was reminded again by the ever-pervasive fantasy card tables that you can ignore at the Syracuse show because there is so much regular card show goodness. Today's show featured two tables that got my money. There were probably four tables total that offered the cards that interest me -- i.e. sports cards not encased in plastic.   But all things considered in the hobby (*waves hands at everything*), I'll take it.   This show will not be long for my world if one particular dealer decides it's not worth it (two of his seller buddies who used to accompany him at the monthly show have ditched it for Syrac...

  I'm already pleased with the brand-new collecting atmosphere on Bluesky as compared with Twitter. One excellent sign is I can find blog topics from the upstart site, which was a big Twitter benefit before it went south. The other day, the discussion turned to Roberto Clemente cards, and I realized that just about every vintage Clemente card that I have acquired comes with a story. I suppose that's a given with how treasured and expensive his cards can be, but it's just weird how the stories jump out with him. I don't know if I can say that about any other vintage player.   To demonstrate, I will go through each of my vintage Clemente acquisitions and the story that is attached to each. I don't have a lot of vintage Clementes, so this won't be long. Also, longtime readers have likely read these all before because I've recounted each of them on my blog when they happened. But this blog is about 70 percent regurgitation at this point anyway.   July 2024 1969 ...

  Four months ago I was contacted by a collector from Toronto who sent me some cards from his childhood collection, all of them O-Pee-Chee from the 1970s. They came from his basement -- I'm guessing they were patiently waiting for someone to come around, as cards in the basement do -- and while I expected just some Dodgers, Jeff sent me so much more. Well, I got another unexpected envelope from Jeff last week and I was blessed with some more basement cards -- almost all of them '72 OPC!   There was a nice selection of cards from all areas of the 1972 set.      I'll start with the team cards since I led with one with the White Sox (record loss No. 121 is on the docket with a defeat Tuesday against the Angels). I'm not turning over all these cards to display the French on the back, but I'll do it with one of the team cards so you know everything is on the up-and-up. There you are, frappeurs and lanceurs.   There were some Rookie Stars, too. Though I'd say no...

  My vacation began in the only proper way yesterday -- with a card show. It was the monthly show and my third straight month attending. It's become such a regular occurrence that I almost didn't make it. I was also preparing dinner yesterday and I needed to go to the store to pick up an ingredient (shallots) that I couldn't find at the closer store a few days earlier. I don't like grocery shopping on Saturdays because all the "it's-my-day-off" people are there and they are really belligerent with their carts. But I had no choice and I told myself the store was close to the card show so it'll be fine. It's fine. I had gotten off to a later start already but I drove to the store and started my search for shallots. But that store didn't have them either. Crap, I'm going to have to hit Price-Chopper. That meant back-tracking and also going to a store I rarely go to (it's more expensive) where I don't know where anything is. I got there...

  I have no problem with how anyone in the hobby wants to collect. Their preferences are their own and I'm glad they're happy. If the way they collect is different from mine, there's a good chance I won't understand it. But still, their way is their way and mine is mine and we can co-exist peacefully, each collecting in our own corner. Except in one instance. There is this one type of collecting that interferes with how I collect. In fact, our two kinds of collecting often butts heads. I'm referring to player collecting, a popular style of collecting for the last 30-to-35 years but something that I am on record as not understanding and I admit I've called it names in the past. But it's probably just the frustration of being a set collector coming out. Set collecting was king when I was a kid in the '70s and remained that way all through my first stage of collecting into the mid-1980s. We '70s set-collectors rarely encountered other collectors hoardin...